NORTHEASTERN FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION 

Upper Darby , Pennsylvania 

No. 39 

October 1954 

1954 Hurricane Damage 

On Penobscot Experimental Forest 

The two hurricanes "Carol" and ltEdnat1 that struck inland over New England this summer caused some timber losses. 

But the damage was neither so extensive nor so severe as the 

damage done by the hurricane of 1938 and the storms of 1950. 

The full force of Hurricane Carol on August 31 was 

not felt in the eastern half of Maine. The storm center 

passed about 150 miles west of Bangor; but winds of 30 miles 

per hour velocity, with gusts up to 50, were recorded at Old 

Town, The winds were from the south and southeast. Rainfall that day was 1,09 inches, 

However, the eye of Hurricane Edna passed about 50 

miles southeast of Bangor. Winds of 40 miles per hour, with 

gukts up to 62, were recorded at Old Town. This time the 

winds came from the north and northeast. And in this storm 

7.14 inches of rain were recorded at the Penobscot Experimental Forest (located about 8 miles northeast of Bangor) = 

Hurricane Carol caused some blowdown on the ESrperimental Forest, butthe greater part of the damage was done 

by Hurricane Edna. Since the winds came from opposite directions in the two storms, some of the trees protected from 

one storm were exposed to the other. The drenching rain 

that preceded and accompanied Edna saturated the soil and 

must have loosened the tree roots considerably. 

A check of the damage was made on 177 permanent 1/5- 

acre sample plots on the Experimental Forest, in the area 

used for compartment-management studies. The stands here 

are softwood types, on low-lying land. The principal species are red and white spruce, balsam fir, and hemlock. 

The check showed an average loss of about 1/4 cord 

per acre. The trees lost were in the 5-inch and larger 

class. They numbered less than 4 trees per acre. 
Losses seemed to be related to species, site, and exposure. Some 7% of the trees lost to wind were balsam fir; 

these trees made up barely half of the volume lost. Spruce 

trees accounted for a fourth of the volume lost, The rest 

~fthelosswas inallotherspecies. Manyofthe balsam 

f3r trees had butt rot, and were broken by the wind. Losses 

were particularly heavy along roads, in openings in the forest, and on open edges of the forest, 

The cutting practices tested in this area seemed to 

be closely related to the extent of wind damage. Stands 

where good and high-order cutting practices had been used 

suffered the lightest damage: 3.7 trees or 0.18 cord per 

acre. These compartments had been cut lightly (15 to 35% of 

the volume removed) and mas* of the poor-risk trees had already been taken out. The growing stock was of good density, 

well spaced, and in good condition. 

The heaviest losses-5.1 trees or 0.37 cord per acremwere in stands where fair and poor cutting practices had 

been tried. Here 50 to 90% of the volume had been removed 

with diameter-limit cuttings or clear-cuttings. The growing 

stock here was irregular and patchy, and in places veryopen, 

Damage on uncut areas was 3.2 trees or 0.25 cord per 

acre. Although these stands had been undisturbed, they contained large, partially defective trees weakened by rot. 

Breakage of these trees contributed greatly to the rather 

large volume lost here. 

--T. J. GRISEZ, Research Forester 

Penobscot Research Center 

Northeastern Forest Experiment Station 

Forest Service, U.S. Dept. Agriculture 

Agriculture-Forest Service-Upper Darby, Pa.